No audio device installed- SOLVED!

No audio device installed- SOLVED!

Two nights ago my comp ran updates and when I got up in the morning, I had the red x over my speaker with the message "No audio output device is installed". After searching forums, getting live tech support, reinstalling drivers, updates, restoring to a date prior to the problem (all with no luck), 16 hours of constant fiddling later, I have my sound back! I am not tech savvy at all but managed to figure this out, and I'm hoping to save others the time.
I have an HP Pavilion dv9925nr that runs Windows Vista 64 bit.
Some forums will tell you to go to device manager and click on the "Sound, video, and game controllers" category, but if you're having the same problem I was, this was not an option. It just wasn't there. Whenever I tried to reinstall the driver, mine runs Conexant, it would fail install because the hardware wasn't there.
How I fixed my issue:
Go to your Control Panel-Classic View and choose the "Add hardware" icon. Choose the "search automatically" option when prompted. Click 'next' when asked the next question. Your "Sound, video, and game controllers" category should be there. Click on this and it will retrieve a list of hardware to choose from. I chose the manufacturer Conexant and a list of several options showed up. I wasn't sure which was the correct one so I just chose the only HD option available. Click next. This is where I had a problem, or so I thought. My computer started to install the hardware and I got the dreaded black screen and after a few minutes of nothing happening, I turned off my computer with the power button. When it re-booted, my desktop screen came up for a second then went black. So I had to restart again and choose the "system restore" from the initial black screen that comes up when not shut down correctly. I restored my computer back to a time earlier today, just in an effort to undo this hardware install that seemingly didn't install. Much to my surprise, my computer did restore back to previous settings, but the hardware I added was also there and my sound was working again! When I go to my Device Manager now, the "Sound, video, and game controllers" category is there and everything seems fine. It shows that the hardware installed was the one I installed using the "Add hardware" icon.
This could all be a fluke, but I like to think that it was the "Add hardware" option that worked. I hope this helps others and saves you the time I spent troubleshooting this problem

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